A Unifying Meta-Theory of UFOs & The Weird with Sean Esbjörn-Hargens (150)

For Episode 150 we welcome back Sean Esbjörn-Hargens, one of the most formidable and daring intellects I know, and the author of a new paper integrating over 650 books on UFOs and the paranormal, from over 150 disciplines, to trace the outline of a unifying meta-theory of the weird. In this episode, we discuss how Sean reconciles ten different hypotheses for the UFO phenomenon with his “mutual enactment hypothesis,” an updated ontology based on reconstructive post-modernism and Indigenous ways of knowing. I tell the story of the most powerful and transformative experiences of my life, as a case study in high weirdness. We talk about the distinctions between the real, the Real, the hypo-real, and the hyper-real, and offer examples from film, literature, and comparative religion.

Do you have incredulous friends? Show them the extraordinary website Sean made with Tom Curren, WhatsUpWithUFOs.com

Read Sean’s paper, “Our Wild Kosmos!: An Exo Studies Exploration of the Ontological Status of Non-Human Intelligences”

Read its precursor, “An Ontology of Climate Change: Integral Pluralism and the Enactment of Multiple Objects”

Read Sean’s latest newsletter on recent UFO disclosures

Learn more about and enroll in Sean’s course on Exo Studies

If you believe in the value of this show and want to see it thrive, support Future Fossils on Patreon. Patrons gain access to over twenty secret episodes, unreleased music, our book club, and whatever else spills out of my overactive imagination.

Dig deeper with the Future Fossils episodes we reference in this conversation, including:

37 – Michaelangelo aka Void Denizen (Excavating the Future with “Paisley-ontology”)

60 – Sean Esbjörn-Hargens Goes Meta on Everything: Integral Ecology & Impact

71 – JF Martel (On Sequels & Simulacra, Blade Runner 2049 & Stranger Things 2)

91 – An Oral History of The End of “Reality”

99 – Erik Davis on How to Navigate High Weirdness

113 – Sean Esbjörn-Hargens on Exostudies: Philosophical Explorations of the UFO Phenomenon

117 – Eric Wargo on Time Loops: Precognition, Retrocausation, and the Unconscious

126 – Phil Ford & JF Martel on Weird Studies & Plural Realities

132 – Erik Davis on Perturbations in the Reality Field

149 – Cultural Somatics & Ritual as Justice with Tada Hozumi, Dare Sohei, and Naomi Most

And stay tuned for my three-part conversation with Stuart Davis about (most of) my UFO experiences on his awesome Aliens & Artists Podcast!